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AURORA, Colo. (KDVR) — The Problem Solvers were called back out to the Bayberry Condominiums in Aurora following our story on a broken elevator back at the end of August. Residents had asked for help since the elevator then had been broken going on six weeks.

“The elevator in (building) 481 has been out of service for over two months and I can’t have that happen to me,” Merrill Coates, who lives in building 471 right next door, said.

Coates reached out to the Problem Solvers with the same problem. The elevator in his building is now broken for going on two weeks and he said based on how the other buildings’ elevator situation is being handled, he might be stuck upstairs for a while.

“It’s hard for me to get up and down the stairs — near impossible,” Coates said.

Coates has cerebral palsy, so he uses crutches to get around. He said when he bought his condo 27 years ago in building 471, the elevator was the main reason. The elevator goes all the way down to the parking garage below the building.

“I could pull in the garage, go to the elevator and come up to my condo. It’s a big plus because it’s accessible, when the elevator worked,” Coates said.  

Thousands a year paid in HOA fees

He said he’s wondering where all the money he pays in homeowners association fees is going if they aren’t fixing both the elevator in 471 and 481. Both buildings are managed by Hammersmith Management.

According to residents in 481, as of Saturday night, the elevator is still broken, now going on eight weeks.

“I pay $535 a month and I pay some extras on top of that. I pay almost $7,000 a year for HOA fees,” Coates said.

His roommate, Lori Emmons, who has multiple sclerosis, said she has also been stuck up in the unit. She is in a wheelchair full time and said she tried to leave Thursday for the first time in almost two weeks, but a neighbor had to carry her back up the stairs.

“I don’t expect the world to bow down and cater to me or my disability. It’s the idea: I moved here, it was that way and now you aren’t maintaining it that way,” Emmons said.

Coates said he reached out to the HOA to see if a stairlift could be installed while they wait for the elevator to be fixed. He said he hasn’t heard back.

“Who knows how long it’s going to take?” Coates said.

What the HOA says

FOX31 and Channel 2 reached out to Hammersmith Management again after learning about the additional elevator in 471 being broken. Attorney Joseph A. Bucceri, who works for Orten Cavanagh Holmes & Hunt, LLC, general counsel for Bayberry Condominiums Association, said, “At this time the association has no comment.”

From FOX31’s original story about the broken elevator in 481, Bucceri passed along the following information:

“The Bayberry Condominiums Association, Inc. is aware of the outage for the elevator in building 481. The Association, through its management company, has contracted with an elevator repair company to complete the necessary repairs. Per the vendor, a specific part that is needed to complete the repairs to the elevator.

As of yesterday, August 22, 2022, the vendor indicated to the Association that they are diligently working to procure said part deemed necessary to place the elevator back in service. The Association has not received an expected date of arrival from the vendor for this component.”

Joseph A. Bucceri

“It’s so important to us about our freedom our health and our safety,” Emmons said.

The Problem Solvers will continue to follow this story.